On 21 July, Madrid’s Director General of Environmental Evaluation, Mariano González, and Castilla-La Mancha’s Director General of Quality and Environmental Impact, Matilde Basarán, visited Lafarge’s Villaluenga de la Sagra cement plant, Spain. The officials were visiting the Toledo-based plant to learn more about Lafarge’s use of waste materials. Lafarge has invested €11 million in equipment for the combustion and processing of alternative fuels, which enabled the plant to achieve a fuel substitution rate of 50% in 2013. The plant’s use of biomass to replace traditional fossil fuels has led to a reduction of around 60 000 tpa of CO2.

The Villaluenga de la Sagra plant is considered a reference within the Lafarge Group in terms of its operating results, quality levels, cost optimisation, and health and safety achievements. The plant recently celebrated 5 years without accidents.

International Union for Conservation of Nature, in collaboration with CEMBUREAU and other partners, has developed the ‘Integrated Biodiversity Management System’ as a guide for cement and aggregates companies.

As part of their merger plan to create LafargeHolcim, the construction materials companies have announced which assets they plan to divest in anticipation of potential competition issues by regulatory bodies.